Stamp of Approval

This month will be a month of reflection, for one year ago this month, we put our house on the market in OH. I thought about this on April Fool's Day because that was the actual day. It was cold and snowing. I can still picture in my head our realtor putting the For Sale sign on our front yard and giving me the thumbs up. If only I had known what the next 5 months would hold, I probably would have thrown something at her. But here we are, a year later. We've been in our house almost 8 months. Wow, I can't believe that. Those memories of moving out and moving in are still so vivid, so fresh and still so raw and painful. I look forward to those memories fading away.

I still continue to struggle with feeling like this place is home. Something so simple as finding out where the FedEx depot is or where the bike shop is to repair my Gabi's tire on her bike. Instead of picking up in the car and just going to these places, I have to find them first. That process continues to be frustrating. But now, I know. And the next time, I can just pick up and go. These are the types of things that help me feel connected.

We had our 6 month house check-up last month. Our house already has a few bumps and bruises that our builders are happily willing to fix for us. One of the things that our customer service rep noticed was that the walkway to our front door was sloped. This is to be expected as the house/ground begins to settle. And just as prompt as our house was built, they were here this week to fix our walkway. The kids watched in amazement as several workers took a big pneumatic drill and punched holes in our walkway and then just picked up the pieces of concrete and threw them away. The workers came back today to fill in our walk with concrete. It was funny how both my husband and I had the same idea once the workers left our concrete to dry. It was only fitting and appropriate that we give this house our stamp of approval. This house is now ours. It now holds our names, our handprints (walls included) and our date of taking ownership. This is a small step but an important one. For some reason, this act cemented (no pun intended) our transition.